TORONTO, December 02, 2009… RateSupermarket.ca, Canadian consumers’ one-stop-site to quickly and easily compare over 500 mortgage rates from the country’s top providers, today announced the formation of their Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel. The panel will help Canadian consumers make informed mortgage purchase decisions by offering a short-term mortgage rate outlook on variable and fixed rate mortgages once a month.

“In these times of economic uncertainty, we are pleased to offer a stress-saving resource like the Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel,” said Kelvin Mangaroo, Founder of RateSupermarket.ca. “Having access to the perspective of our financial guru’s will help Canadian consumers make the best financial choices for their fixed or variable mortgage arrangements in 2010.”

The panel’s first mortgage rate outlook (For the next 30-45 days) takes the likely result of the upcoming Bank of Canada announcement (December 8th) into account and expects that mortgage rates will remain low heading into 2010.

Official RateSupermarket.ca Mortgage Rate Panel Outlook the next 35-40 days : UNCHANGED

Fixed rates: Unchanged

80% of panel members agree that fixed mortgage rates will remain unchanged as we move into 2010. However, there is downward pressure on fixed mortgage rates driven by strong lender demand for residential mortgages and an expected slowdown in the second half of 2010. Other highlighted factors include the recent events in Dubai, low long term bond yields and a Canadian economy struggling with minimal growth and a weak US economy.

Variable rates: Unchanged

60% of our panel members believe that variable mortgage rates will remain unchanged following the Bank of Canada announcement on December 8th and over the next 30-45 days. However, increased competition and a push for market share by the big lenders may cause mortgage providers to offer further discounts to prime.

A recent poll conducted on the RateSupermarket.ca site showed that Canadian consumers agree that rates will remain low. Asked what Canadians believe the lowest five year fixed rate mortgage will be in October 2010; thirty four percent said 3.51%-4.50% while twenty seven percent believed that it would be below 3.5%.